Box Score

FAYETTE, Iowa - Devin Diedrich tallied a match-high 23 kills and Sara Graf recorded a match-high 57 assists to lead No. 14 Southwest Minnesota State to a 3-1 (25-14, 25-15, 24-26, 25-14) conference victory over Upper Iowa Saturday night in Fayette, Iowa.

The win was SMSU's seventh straight.

SMSU improves to 17-5 (7-3 NSIC); UIU drops to 12-12 (3-7 NSIC).

Diedrich's 23 kills was one shy of a career high for the sophomore.  She did it defensively, too, notching three blocks.  Mary Groth finished with 13 kills, while Tory Brouwer was also in double figures with 10.

Graf added five kills, seven digs and a service ace to her already impressive stat sheet.

Kenzie Niesche led all defenders with 23 digs.

SMSU used an 11-2 run in the opening set to break away from a 6-6 tie.  Diedrich was huge in that run, smashing five balls and helping the Mustangs to the set victory.

Another big surge from SMSU at the tail end of the second set was enough for the Mustangs to build a double-figure lead.  A pair of late kills from Brooke Burmeister keyed the 25-15 set win.

The host Peacocks, however, rallied and used a solid  hitting performance to the Mustangs to extra points and cut the match deficit to one.

The fourth and final set was all SMSU; the Mustangs put together .560 hitting outing to quickly build a commanding lead.  Two final kills from Diedrich served as the knock-out punch and sealed the set and match victory for SMSU.

The Mustangs more than doubled the Peacocks' kill output, bettering UIU 69-33 in the category.

Sara Vance's eight kills and Shea Meyermann's 15 digs led UIU.

SMSU hosts St. Cloud State and No. 1 Concordia University, St. Paul next weekend.